01552149

Component

Because of funding shortages, the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT), like most of its counterparts, is actively searching for improved and innovative pavement preservation methods that can help stretch limited funding to preserve its deteriorating pavements. In 2007, GDOT developed a new pavement preservation method (using micro-milling in conjunction with a thin overly) that can cost-effectively replace only the deteriorated thin open-graded top surface layer (3/4” to 8/7”) without removing the large sound underlying layer. GDOT, working with Georgia Tech, has developed processes, including a Ridge-to-Valley Depth (RVD) indicator (for characterizing the micro-milled surface texture) and quality control/acceptance process, to successfully implement the new method on two large-scale projects (80 lane-miles on I-75 near Perry and 96 lane-miles on I-95 near Savannah). The new RVD indicator and its measures on these two projects were presented in earlier papers; however, the total experience of implementing these two projects has not been comprehensively presented, especially the construction processes and their quality controls. This paper presents the development of the new method, including the challenges, the construction steps, the experiences learnt during the course of the projects, and the recommendations based on the projects' results and experiences. The new method has produced satisfactory pavement performance. According to the pavement condition evaluation performed by GDOT, the pavements on the I-75 and I-95 projects are still in good condition after 7 and 3 years, respectively. The average saving is approximately $59,000 per lane-mile, and the total savings on both projects is more than $10 million, which is significant when compared to traditional pavement resurfacing method. The long-term performance monitoring on these two projects is currently underway, and their long-term cost-effectiveness will be analyzed.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AHD18 Pavement Preservation.

01550057

15-4411

English

13p

2015

Transportation Research Board 94th Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Figures; Photos; References; Tables

Cost effectiveness; Milling; Overlays (Pavements); Pavement maintenance; Pavement performance; Paving; Quality control; Recommendations; Savings

Georgia

Highways; Maintenance and Preservation; Pavements; I52: Construction of Pavements and Surfacings; I61: Equipment and Maintenance Methods

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2015 Paper #15-4411

PRP, TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Dec 30 2014 1:27PM